Selling "Land Coordinates" in Self-Built Fake Metaverses: Non-Existent Plots Hidden Behind Exquisite Planning Maps

Who Gets Targeted

Victims are mostly urban white-collar workers and self-employed individuals in their 30s and 40s, who possess some savings but have a superficial understanding of blockchain and metaverse technology, making them easily swayed by pitches such as "digital asset rights confirmation" and "the next Bitcoin-level opportunity." Having generally experienced the media bombardment of the 2021 to 2022 metaverse real estate frenzy, they suffer from fear of missing out (FOMO); some lowered their guard after seeing early buyers flaunt screenshots of paper floating profits, taking the platform's 3D planning maps and countdown flash sales as proof of project strength, while ignoring the fundamental question of whether the land actually exists and has third-party on-chain records.

骗局怎么运作

• Step 1: Building a shell platform. The gang mimics the interface style of regular platforms like Decentraland to create a website or app, releasing exquisite 3D city renderings and promotional videos claiming they have developed an independent metaverse, when in reality there is no interactive virtual world on the server, and the so-called land is just a row of records in a backend database.
• Step 2: Packaging scarcity narratives. Customer service scripts emphasize that "only the last 50 plots are left in the core business district" and "AI valuation systems indicate projected annual growth exceeding 200%," cooperating with forged trading market pages to create a rush-buying atmosphere, using countdowns and purchase limits to create decision pressure.
• Step 3: Selling land coordinates. A string of digital codes is sold as "coordinate credentials" at prices ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of yuan per plot, claiming that users can later log into the metaverse with these coordinates to collect rent or open stores; payments are mostly guided to personal accounts or cryptocurrency channels to evade corporate transfer trails.
• Step 4: Manufacturing false prosperity. A so-called secondary market is set up within the platform, where manipulators buy and sell among themselves to drive up listing prices, allowing early buyers to see book appreciation and proactively pull in friends and family. Some scams also set up referral rebates to form multi-level fission.
• Step 5: Cutting off liquidity and ending the tail. When the influx of new funds slows down, the platform freezes withdrawal and trading functions under the pretext of "system upgrades" and "regulatory compliance rectification," followed by gradually stopping updates until login becomes impossible, at which point manipulators change names and start anew, turning the coordinate codes in victims' hands into worthless strings.

红旗信号（看到这些快跑）

• 🚩 Land ownership cannot be queried on any public blockchain explorer; only the platform's own app can display credentials, and the so-called confirmation relies entirely on the platform's unilateral bookkeeping.
• 🚩 Claiming guaranteed principal appreciation, annualized growth exceeding 100%, and throwing in commercial shop rental dividends, promotional materials are full of return promises without any financial license information.
• 🚩 Collection accounts are personal bank cards, personal USDT addresses, or temporarily registered companies inconsistent with the platform name, refusing to issue formal invoices and written contracts.
• 🚩 3D planning maps and promotional videos are made extremely exquisite, but the platform has no virtual scenes that can be actually entered and experienced, and even basic user online data cannot be verified.
• 🚩 Requiring the recruitment of downlines to obtain land discounts or transaction rebates, with reward tiers reaching three levels or higher, where human-recruitment earnings far exceed the operating earnings of the land itself.
• 🚩 No real identity information and office addresses of the development team can be found online, customer service only uses pseudonyms, and the company has a short registration time with subscribed registered capital at zero.

真实案例

• In March 2026, Sina Finance published a 3·15 case study disclosure: A company named "Yuanyufangchan" sold "land coordinates" in a self-built "metaverse," promising massive land appreciation with commercial center and entertainment facility planning maps. After investors spent tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of yuan to purchase a string of digital codes, the platform lost contact and funds could not be recovered.
• In April 2023, National Business Daily reported that in November 2022, a well-known singer spent $123,000 to purchase three pieces of virtual real estate in Decentraland, which dropped in valuation to only about $10,000 by 2023—a decline of over 90%, becoming a landmark case of the cooling metaverse real estate hype, and the event was heavily used by officials and media as risk warning material.
• In June 2026, Chongqing Daily reported that the Chongqing Municipal Science and Technology Bureau issued a risk warning, pointing out that bad actors used technological concepts such as "AI computing power investment" and "the metaverse" to carry out illegal financial activities, reminding the public to be alert to virtual asset fundraising traps under the name of cutting-edge technology.
• In March 2025, relevant reports by Xinhua News Agency reviewed new scams in the digital era, listing the hype of metaverse investment and forged cryptocurrency investment side-by-side as typical techniques, pointing out that bad actors exploit the unfamiliarity of the elderly and groups with weak internet financial knowledge toward emerging concepts to commit fraud.
• In July 2024, Shenzhen police cracked down on a "3 billion yuan virtual real estate scam": The "Xingtu Yuzhou" platform once claimed to be the largest metaverse real estate developer in China, with digital land auction prices hyped up to 80,000 yuan per square meter; Wenzhou businessman Lin spent 6.7 million yuan to purchase a "metaverse CBD core plot," only to receive a piece of blockchain code and an AI-generated future streetscape video, while the so-called "panoramic sandbox" was a fake made by modifying a game engine, and 90% of the platform's 3 billion yuan turnover was self-purchase and self-sale. (Source: [https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20251112A02EMY00](https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20251112A02EMY00))
• In April 2023, according to China Consumer News reports: In November 2022, singer JJ Lin spent $123,000 to purchase 3 pieces of virtual real estate on the Decentraland platform, and by 2023 the value dropped to only about $10,000, suffering a floating loss of 91%; WeMeta data showed that the median transaction price on this platform dropped from $45 in 2022 to less than $5, a decline of nearly 90%. (Source: [https://cn.wicinternet.org/2023-04/18/content_36504727.htm](https://cn.wicinternet.org/2023-04/18/content_36504727.htm))

Official Stance

• On June 25, 2026, the Chongqing Municipal Science and Technology Bureau issued the "Risk Warning on Preventing Illegal Financial Activities in the Field of Science and Technology," calling out illegal financial activities under the guise of concepts such as "AI computing power investment," "cloud computing storage," and "the metaverse."
• Around March 15, 2025, central media such as Xinhua News Agency released risk warnings during the 3·15 period, listing metaverse investment hype as a typical new scam in the digital era, reminding groups such as the elderly to be vigilant.
• In April 2026, the Ministry of State Security reminded the public through official channels to pay attention to the security risks behind the token and token-word craze, preventing pyramid schemes and fundraising scams implemented under the guise of AI concepts.
• Market regulation and financial management departments in regions like Xinjiang carried out case-based warning education during 3·15 consumer rights protection activities using "Yuanyufangchan" style cases, warning against the fraudulent nature of virtual land coordinate sales.

How to Protect Yourself

• ✅ Before purchasing any virtual real estate, first check the land's on-chain contract address and real transaction records on public blockchain explorers like Ethereum; anything that cannot be queried should be treated entirely as having no rights confirmation guarantee.
• ✅ Only trade on mainstream platforms with a long operating history and public audits, such as Decentraland and The Sandbox, and thoroughly check the corporate entity, licenses, and real team background of self-built niche platforms first.
• ✅ Directly exclude anything that promises fixed returns, guaranteed appreciation, or downline referral rebates; hitting these three rules simultaneously can basically be judged as having characteristics of illegal fundraising or pyramid schemes.
• ✅ Only make payments into corporate accounts and request formal contracts and invoices, refuse any requests to transfer money to personal bank cards or personal crypto wallets, and save all chat records and transfer vouchers.
• ✅ If you find that the platform has frozen withdrawals or lost contact, immediately report the case to public security authorities and file a complaint with local financial regulatory departments; reporting earlier is more conducive to freezing涉案 (the case-related) fund flows.